みなみけ べつばら OVA

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hosaka is planning his next bento for Haruka when Hayami sees him lost in fantasy land. She tells him that his bentos will fail because Haruka makes meals with love and he does not. Hosaka dismisses this as nonsense since he loves Haruka and while Hayami understands his feelings, she finds how he goes about expressing them wrong.

At the supermarket, Chiaki is purchasing the ingredients for that night’s supper, niku-jaga. One of the ingredients is carrots and Chiaki contemplates telling Haruka that the store was sold out of them. Hosaka arrives and goes on about the greatness of carrots and the expression of love they represent. Hearing this, Chiaki buys them and at dinner, she impresses both Haruka and Kana by eating all her carrots.

At school the next day, Hosaka brings in his own niku-jaga for Hayami to try so that she will know just how true his feelings for Haruka are. She doesn’t want to but he’s not taking no for an answer. Meanwhile, Haruka is all happy about Chiaki eating carrots and she tells Atsuko of all the carrot dishes she’s now going to make, something Atsuko thinks is going too far.

Yoshino comes by the Minami residence for a visit and finds Mako-chan there but Chiaki is out. Makoto is worried that Yoshino has figured him out and consults with Kana, who doesn’t have anything helpful to say. Makoto is just sure he’s been found out when Yoshino thinks he’s in her grade and asks what she might have forgotten in school, so when Haruka tells Kana to clean the tub like she was supposed to have done, Makoto volunteers instead. Yoshino also goes to help since she too is often at the Minami residence, which frustrates Makoto’s plan to be alone. A slip of the soap has Yoshino in the tub and Makoto over the edge but otherwise unharmed. Yoshino remarks on how strong “Mako-chan” is, almost like a boy. Makoto decides to get it out there and in confronting Yoshino, she remembers she’d forgotten her protractor and still doesn’t know Makoto’s secret.

Its nearly Valentine’s Day again and with that, Maki, Uchida, and Touma have come over. Kana decides to make it a chocolate contest and puts “Maki-sensei” in charge of the discussions on chocolate. Soon Chiaki, Uchida, and Touma are out and Kana’s plan to score free chocolate is about to fail. She attempts to get the mood back by having Maki tells a good Valentine’s Day personal story, but she has none. Haruka comes home with a box of chocolates from a store.

The girls are enjoying them when the doorbell rings. When Kana states it is probably Fujioka, Haruka and Maki panic and everyone attempts to hide the evidence of chocolates since it is not cool to let a boy know during Valentines. However, this panic causes Fujioka to be left out in the cold.

Fujioka is heading through the market district and sees Hosaka making plans to ensure he gets a chocolate he’s sure is coming from Haruka. At the Minami residence, Chiaki is using Fujioka as her chair when Maki brings up the subject of Valentine’s Day. Chiaki feels the reaction come from Fujioka and Maki encourages Fujioka to make it happen when it comes to getting a chocolate. So for several days, he tries to help Kana by carrying things for her that he hopes are chocolate, but he’s foiled every time.

 Kana mentions to Keiko how Fujioka is acting strange and Keiko mentions that it might be from soccer practice. So on Valentine’s Day, Kana gives Fujioka a chocolate to make him feel better. He’s very happy to receive it. Keiko mentions to Kana that it is Valentine’s Day and she’s just given a chocolate to Fujioka. Kana is horrified by this as she has no interest in the holiday beyond eating chocolate herself.

Meanwhile after school, Hosaka stands alone in class with no chocolates, still waiting to get one from Haruka.

Thoughts/Review:

It has been a while since I’ve seen some Minami-ke goodness, so this OVA sequel to Minami-ke: Okaeri is a nice trip back to that world, though still not up to the original’s standards.

The first story is a Hosaka story and those always tend to be funny. This was no exception. The one thing I looked for and didn’t receive was when Chiaki saw Hosaka in the store. I thought for sure she’d say or think something about the “Curry Fairy” but that didn’t even enter the picture and that disappointed me. I wonder why the writers passed on that. Regardless, Hosaka was pretty funny (though not his funniest), especially when he went to feed Hayami.

The second story wasn’t funny to me but I did smile at Makoto’s worry about being outed. However, the joke is old and the writers really didn’t give it a fresh take. The third story amused me as Chiaki, Touma, and Uchida were “out” but that was about it. The final story is the one that made me laugh the most as Fujioka’s desperation to sneak a chocolate from Kana had him asking to carry stuff for her in the hopes one of those things would be a chocolate. It also had the very wrong moments with Chiaki in his lap. ^_^;

Overall, I was entertained and it was nice to see the major players again as they all scored at least a cameo. Well, I guess Riko got the short end of the stick. ^_^;;;